Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday declined a fresh bail application filed by Fred Ajudua, who is facing trial for allegedly defrauding a Palestinian businessman of over $1 million.
Ajudua is accused of swindling Zad Abu Zalaf of $1,043,000 under false pretences and is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This latest setback for the defendant comes after the Supreme Court, on May 5, 2025, nullified the bail previously granted by the Court of Appeal and upheld Justice Dada's original ruling denying him bail.
At the resumed hearing, Ajudua appeared in court, accompanied by medical personnel from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). His lawyer pleaded with the court to reconsider bail on medical grounds, citing his chronic kidney condition.
However, the EFCC opposed the application, and Justice Dada, in her ruling, maintained that she would await the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter before making any further pronouncements.
“In view of the applications filed at the Supreme Court, I am constrained to make any decision with respect to this instant application filed by the defence counsel. I will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court,” she said.
The judge adjourned the matter to October 10, October 31, and November 20 for continuation of trial.
During Monday’s proceedings, EFCC operative Afanda Emmanuel, who testified as Prosecution Witness 3 (PW3), told the court that Ajudua's case was transferred from the Nigeria Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) to the EFCC in 2005.
“In 2011, I was directed by my team head to study the case file, which included a letter from the Nigeria Police to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” Emmanuel testified.
The defence objected to the EFCC’s attempt to tender certain documents, arguing that they were not original or certified true copies and that the EFCC was not the originator. Justice Dada sustained the objection on two of the documents but admitted two others into evidence.
The case, originally filed in 2005, has suffered multiple delays and was reassigned several times before Ajudua was re-arraigned in 2018. Cross-examination of the EFCC witness is expected to continue at the next sitting.
